Good questions. Having been locked into a thing for 10 years it's now likely I will want to sample different roles via contracting/consulting. If I happen upon an opportunity that's a great fit I would then aim to turn that into F/T. It's important for me to find work where I may have a greater impact on the outcome and that allows me to focus more on delivering value and less on political machinations. Compensation is secondary. Basically, I want to setup the conditions for improving the probability of some career fulfillment. And if all that fails then throw up my hands and attempt to cycle back into big tech.